(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an operating device, in particular for a gear-changing transmission, for example an automatic transmission, according to the preamble of claim 1.
Gear-changing transmissions of automobiles are typically shifted or controlled with an operating device arranged within reach of the driver. Typically, operating elements, such as shift levers or selection levers, are used which are arranged, for example, between the front seats of the automobile or in other areas of the cockpit.
For visually identifying the instantaneous engaged position of the operating element or the instantaneous engaged gear in a gear-changing transmission, generic operating devices frequently include a gear or shift position indicator device with illuminated symbols or shift position designations. The shift position indicator device is primarily arranged in the area of the operating element or the shift gate and includes a number of illuminated symbols or shift position designations which can be individually illuminated depending on the selected or engaged shift position.
(2) Description of Related Art
DE 40 03 281 A1 discloses a device for indicating the engaged shift position, wherein the shift position designation corresponding to the respective engaged shift position is illuminated through a slit aperture rotatable about a light source and light arms constructed as an injection molded part. However, this device is mechanically complex and includes a number of individual parts, resulting in significant manufacturing and installation costs. On the other hand, a not insignificant amount of installation space is required in the region of the operating device for controlling the shift position indicating device. This conventional shift position indicator device is also relatively inflexible with respect to a possible variation in the arrangement of the shift gate and the shift position designations.
Operating devices known in the art with shift position illumination use separate electric illumination devices arranged in the region of the shift gate or in the region of the shift position designations to be illuminated, for example a circuit board with control electronics and light-emitting diodes for direct illumination of the shift position designations.
However, these separate illumination devices or LED circuit boards are also comparably complex and hence expensive, in particular because such circuit boards must be provided and installed in the shift operating unit in addition to the already existing control board and cabled with the control board.
DE 101 13 534 B4 also shows an operating device for selecting shift positions of a gear-changing transmission with a selection lever that protrudes through a cover. A shift position indicator device is also housed in the cover. Light-emitting diodes which transmit the emitted light to the elements of the shift gate symbols through the cylindrical optical fibers arranged in the housing are arranged on a circuit board disposed in a housing. Additional light wells are arranged between the cylindrical optical fibers in the housing and the shift gate symbols provided in the cover for bridging the distance between the housing and the cover and for transmitting the light onward. This arrangement has the disadvantage that due to the fixed, rigid and the straight association of the shift gate symbols with the diodes on the circuit board, the positions of the diodes on the circuit board are inflexibly defined. The shifting pattern for the circuit board and/or its design is therefore strictly regulated and defined in advance.
With this background, it is an object of the present invention to provide an operating device with an illuminatable shift position indicator device, in particular for a gear-changing transmission, capable of eliminating the aforementioned disadvantages of the state of the art. In particular, the operating device to be able to be produced at low cost and allow flexible installation and simultaneously reliably accentuate and illuminate the individual illuminated symbols and shift position designations in the region of the shift gate.